Spousal support in Canada

Berend Hovius Professor of Law University of Western Ontario London Canada. There have been significant developments in the law relating to spousal support in Canada over the last few decades and spousal support has become an issue of practical significance on marriage breakdown. While a 'clean break model' of spousal support predominated in the mid-1980s the current trend is to recognise an expansive basis for entitlement and provided that there is an ability to pay on the part of the respondent to award a claiming spouse a substantial amount for an indefinite period. This reformation has been driven largely by a concern to fairly compensate wives for the economic disadvantages flowing from the roles adopted during the marriage relationship and to alleviate the economic dislocation resulting from marriage breakdown. Interestingly the truly dramatic shift has occurred without legislative reform. Rather the courts led by the Supreme Court of Canada have infused new life into the existing statutory provisions dealing with spousal support.

In this article Berend Hovius explains the constitutional and legislative framework behind spousal support law and...

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